Back in January, I took an early look at the 2013 elections in Houston. At the request of the folks at the Burnt Orange Report, who also printed my initial overview, here’s an update on the races in the city of Houston in 2013. Mayor Back in January, Mayor Parker had no declared opponents, though [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Mayor’
The 2013 Mayor’s race just got real, y’all
Look who’s back: Need I mention that it was posted on the fence surrounding an empty lot? Look for other signs just like it on a utility pole near you. And be sure to tell anyone who wants to vote for Eric Dick for Mayor to be sure to check the straight ticket Republican box [...]
Mayor Parker kicks off her campaign
It’s the time of the season for Mayor Parker, who has a serious challenger this time, but also a stronger hand to play. In her tenure, Parker has given teeth to the city’s historic preservation rules, broken a deadlock with Harris County to help build the Dynamo stadium, gave scandal-ridden Metro new leaders and revised [...]
Ben Hall’s tax problem
Oops. A campaign video shows Ben Hall, the former city attorney who is now running for mayor, sitting in a classroom amid a group of schoolchildren as his voiceover talks about the importance of education. “Our children are our future,” Hall says, with music swelling in the background. “They deserve the very best education that [...]
Tweet My Jobs Houston
On Friday, Mayor Parker delivered the State of the City 2013. Her address was heavy on accomplishments from the past year – there are a lot of them, and there is an election coming up – but there were also announcements of new things to come. One is Tweet My Jobs Houston, and I’ll refer [...]
Endorsement watch: Planned Parenthood gets an early start
From the inbox on Friday: Today the Board of Directors of the Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast ACTION FUND Inc, (PPGCAF) voted to endorse the following candidates for the November City Election. Each of the endorsed candidates has demonstrated a strong commitment to the health and well being of Texas women and families. PPGCAF encourages all [...]
On African-American turnout in city elections
Bill King makes an observation about Ben Hall’s chances in the upcoming Mayoral election. When Lee Brown was elected mayor in 1997, many pundits predicted that with Houston’s growing minority community, Houston had seen its last white mayor. That, of course, proved not to be the case as Bill White and Annise Parker defeated minority [...]
Hall makes his announcement
Game on. Former Houston City Attorney Ben Hall formally launched his mayoral campaign against incumbent Annise Parker Wednesday night, decrying the burden of taxes and fees he said are driving city residents to the suburbs, and saying Houston’s mayor must have a grander vision. Parker, also on Wednesday, accepted the endorsement of the Houston Police [...]
January finance reports for Houston offices
Previously, I gave the July campaign finance numbers for Houston elected officials who are eligible for the ballot this fall. Here now are the cash on hand figures from the January reports, with all incumbents and a few assorted extras thrown in: Dist Name Cash on hand ================================= Myr Parker 1,043,827 Ctrl R Green 35,753 [...]
More on Hall’s announcement
Here’s the full Chron story from the weekend about Ben Hall’s announcement that yes, he really is running for Mayor this year. “Hall is a formidable challenger but is a long shot to unseat the mayor,” University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus said in an email. Rottinghaus noted Hall’s funding capability, his vision and [...]
Hall is in
It’s on. Former Houston City Attorney Benjamin L. Hall III announced his candidacy for mayor Wednesday, choosing a slogan of “Hall for All!” and emphasizing his ability to unite people. Hall said he filed a form designating a campaign treasurer late Tuesday, the first formal step in his bid to unseat Annise Parker this fall. [...]
A first look at the 2013 elections
It is 2013, right? So while we have the SD06 special election and the new legislative session to worry about, it’s not too early to start talking about the 2013 elections. Let’s start with a peek at the campaign finance reports from last July of the Houston officeholders who will be on the ballot this [...]
The Controller’s travels
This is me shaking my head. Houston controller Ron Green, the city’s top elected financial watchdog, has flown first class and frequented high-end hotels in New York and Chicago at taxpayer expense for more than two dozen publicly funded excursions, booking lodgings that cost as much as $460 per night and often exceeding maximum rates [...]
Hall inches closer to running
He’s still qualifying it, but Ben Hall sounds like a candidate for Mayor. Former city attorney Ben Hall says this time, he’s really ready to run for mayor. “I intend to be on the ballot, if the Lord gives me good health in 2013,” Hall said. The longtime trial lawyer has flirted with politics before, [...]
Not on the Ben Hall bandwagon
Ouch. Ben Hall is talking about running for mayor — again. He won’t do it, and if he does do it, he won’t win, says one local African-American political consultant. Bethel Nathan is a veteran of local politics. His recent clients include Elaine Palmer, who last week won the general election for the 215th District [...]
Ben Hall is a definite maybe for Mayor in 2013
I know, I’m as excited as you are. Former City Attorney Ben Hall, long rumored to be considering a run for mayor, said Tuesday that “It’s more likely than not” that he will run for mayor next year. Hall has been most prominent recently as the attorney for Chad Holley. The black teenager was fleeing [...]
The Mayor’s office on the homeless feeding ordinance
As you know, I have been running a series of guest posts on a variety of topics. When I invited Nick Cooper to write about his experiences with the homeless feeding ordinance, I also contacted the Mayor’s office to ask if there was someone they could point me to that would write about their experiences. [...]
The Mayor’s 2013 budget
What a difference a year – and better sales tax receipts and a better real estate market – makes. Mayor Parker has unveiled her budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, and it promises no service cuts, no layoffs, and no tax increase. Last year, the city issued 764 pink slips and cut services as budget [...]
Riggle continues his crusade
Pastor Steve Riggle continues to be obsessed with gays and lesbians. Taking advantage of his mega-church pulpit on Sunday morning, Pastor Steve Riggle of Houston’s Grace Community Church advanced his crusade against Mayor Annise Parker’s public support for same-sex marriage by urging Houston’s lesbian mayor to either stand up for traditional marriage “or do the [...]
January finance reports: City of Houston
Yes, I know, there are no city of Houston elections this year. (Not yet, anyway.) But the candidates and officeholders have to file reports anyway, covering the period from their last report through the end of the year. That period may be from eight days before the December runoff, eight days before the November election, [...]
Inauguration Day 2012
Tuesday was Inauguration Day for Mayor Annise Parker, City Controller Ronald Green, and all 16 members of Houston City Council. Annise D. Parker began her second term as mayor of Houston on Monday with a commitment to bring more jobs to the city and to tackle an ambitious to-do list that includes progress on public [...]
Evaluating the endorsers
As you know, I kept track as best I could of endorsements that candidates received on my 2011 Election page. Now that the regular election is over, I thought it might be interesting to go back through those endorsements and see how many winners and losers each organization picked. The full results are beneath the [...]
Precinct analysis: The 2011 Mayor’s race
I finally have a draft canvass of the 2011 Harris County vote. You know what that means. Here’s the breakdown in the Council districts for the Mayor’s race: Dist Simms Ullman Wilson Herrera Parker O’Connor ===================================================== A 4.41% 1.28% 16.31% 18.03% 41.89% 18.09% B 22.41% 3.02% 11.92% 12.71% 43.80% 6.14% C 1.65% 0.83% 9.11% 11.21% [...]
More thoughts on the Mayoral election
I think there are two key things to keep in mind when contemplating Tuesday’s election results in Houston and what they may mean for 2013. First and foremost, I believe you have to see the Mayor’s percentage of the vote, which everyone would agree was underwhelming, as a reflection on her level of support and [...]
2011 Houston results
Let’s go through the races… – Mayor Parker won with a shade under 51%, with none of her opponents cracking 15% on their own. Obviously, this is not a position a Mayor with no serious opposition wants to be in, and it won’t surprise anyone if one or more potential opponents for 2013 are on [...]
Your annual reminder that every vote matters
HISD Trustee, District III results, with 38 of 38 precincts reporting: Manuel Rodriguez 2,401 50.25% Ramiro Fonseca 2,377 49.75% There were 653 undervotes in this race, and turnout in the district was 11.61%. Fonseca carried Election Day by 78 votes, but had trailed by 102. At one point during the count, the Clerk had Fonseca [...]
Elections from a bygone era
All through the Early Voting period, I’ve been comparing turnout this year to elections from 2005 through 2009. It’s not like we didn’t have elections in this city before then, of course. Obviously, the city now is different than it was before, and as such I don’t know how much there is to learn from [...]
Eight day finance reports, part II
Finishing what I started… – Fernando Herrera‘s report appeared on Tuesday. He raised $15,835, spent $27,185, and has $242.87 on hand. There were several expenditures on signs and a couple for “Advertising” that didn’t give me much of a clue about what kind of advertising they may be – there were two items totaling $4060 [...]
Eight day reports, part 1
The eight day finance reports started getting posted on the city’s campaign finance page yesterday. I’m still working through putting them on my 2011 Election page, but here are a few highlights so far: – Next to Mayor Parker, the big spender in October was CM Stephen Costello, who made full use of his deep [...]
Early voting starts today
Today is the start of Early Voting for the 2011 elections. It will run through next Friday, November 4, with Election Day on Tuesday the 8th. You can see the EV schedule and locations here, or check out Greg‘s Google map for more details. By now, I hope everyone who plans to vote has a [...]
League of Women Voters Houston 2011 Guide
For your perusal, in a printer-friendly format. (The Spanish language guide is here. It contains information about voter registration laws and the Constitutional amendments, and a brief Q&A with candidates from all the Houston races, including HISD and HCC. The League has also done numerous candidate forums for this cycle, all of which were recorded [...]
Chron overview of the Mayor’s race
For the Sunday that is the last day before the start of early voting, the Chron brings us their overview of the Mayor’s race. And a theme we’ve seen expressed once or twice before. Political analysts predict Mayor Annise Parker has a virtual lock on a second term, but she still has a lot at [...]
KHOU polls the Mayor’s race
We have our first published poll of the season. Mayor Annise Parker, leading the city during an era of budget cutbacks and high unemployment, has the lowest approval ratings of any Houston mayor in decades. That’s the striking headline popping out of an exclusive poll conducted less than a month before the city’s Election Day. [...]
Endorsement watch: For Parker
The Chron endorses Mayor Parker for another term, noting how eventful this term has been. After she beat opponent Gene Locke in a 2009 runoff, the former three-term at-large council member and city controller opined that she felt like the proverbial dog that had chased down the car. In reality, the job has proven even [...]